Chapter 1 - A Stranger Nightmare

There was a boy. His hair was dark and messy. His brown eyes reflected everything with a sense of freedom and excitement. The warmth they evoked spread to everyone who met him. He smiled and ran without thinking that anything bad could happen. He was barefoot and carefree.

The air was fresh and the trees were green. The water was clear and refreshing and an excellent weapon for splashing unsuspecting children. Holding his breath and swimming through the depths, he became as silent as a deer in the woods and snuck up to the kids he was taking care of while the adults worked. Without warning, he jumped up and waves of summer water crashed into the kids, causing a friendly frenzy. Then the colors of the trees changed and he became more daring. Hanging from the limb with perfect ease, he waited until they came nearby. He jumped from the tree to prank the little kids and filled his heart with content as they shrieked and laughed at his foolishness. The wind brought the white gleam of snow and he began to toss snowballs at the kids. They would start little wars without the pain and suffering that comes with true war. There was too much fun to be had before the kids had to grow up.

There was one girl, however, to whom he was especially close. She followed him everywhere, laughed with him, and asked him thousands of questions. He would usually answer, but when he didn't, he ran, making her chase him. Then he spun and fell to the ground, laughing breathlessly as he catapulted the little girl high in the air. She landed in his arms with equally breathless giggles.

On the way home one day, he pet her head as she pouted. Going home meant leaving fun behind. He assured her that they would have fun again tomorrow.

"Will we go skating again tomorrow?" Their voices faded in and out, filtered by hundreds of bare tree branches.

"Sure." He was taken aback. "I thought you didn't like skating?"

"If none of the other kids are around to laugh at me, then maybe I'll like it."

His light laughter filled the air. He said something that was filtered by white noise.

"And─" her soft voice cut out momentarily, "─too?" Static began to distort the surroundings.

The boy looked back to an unknown focal point questioningly. "Perhaps," he answered tentatively, "but head on home. I'll be there soon, promise."

But time skipped and he fell, looking at the girl's fear-ridden face one last time. This time, he didn't land in the snow. His breath caught and his limbs were numb with shock, making it impossible to swim back to the surface. The water surrounded every inch of him and began to fill his mouth and nose and stream around his fingers and drench his clothes. He became heavier and weaker with every passing second. The little girl helplessly screamed his name. His vision and his memories faded as the ice covered the surface once more. He was nothing more than a disturbance to nature's course.

As he stilled, a sound rang through the water. Beep, beep, beep! Annoyed, he struggled to cover his ears. Beep, beep, beep! With impatience and cold water that filled his lungs, he screamed. Beep, beep, beep!

Beep, beep, beep!

The girl woke up with a start, gasping and coughing. In her desperation, she ripped off the blanket and threw it at the abomination. She threw her hands over her ears and tried to find something to stare at for longer than a second. The panic swept through her as if she were the one who drowned. Her eyes were straining to remain one color, as the greens and yellows danced between confusion and insanity. Her coughing became more violent the more that she tried to calm down. Eventually, she lay herself down and hugged her knees to her chest and let the panic blow over. Try as hard as she could to force the swelling emotions out, she could not sob. Time halted and taunted her relentlessly.

When her heart began to slow, she exhaled and stood up slowly from the low bed. She walked over to the lumped mass of blanket and nightstand and picked up the former. The ringing became louder and then was silenced as she clicked the alarm off.

Rubbing her arms, she turned and looked out the window above the bed. Snow had fallen again. She wished it would melt away already, it was almost Easter. She frowned and looked at the time. It was already past noon, but she felt like she hadn't slept at all the night before. The white snow reminded her of the nightmare and she turned away bitterly. Shivering, not because of the cold, she picked up and tossed the blanket back on the bed and slumped down to the floor. She held her head in her left hand and stared at her right. Studying her fingers, she noticed that her fingerprints had pruned, as if she had spent too long in the bath. Furrowing her brows, she sprung up and fell backwards onto the bed with her arms spread out.

"I should stop watching bad TV so late at night," she laughed nervously, trying to shake off the episode.

In reality, bad TV probably had little to do with the present matter. It may have been the shot of tequila, but it wasn't bad TV. For all it was worth, at least she wasn't in hysterics anymore. A panic attack like that hadn't happened in years, but she couldn't shake the feeling that this one was different from the others. The others only elevated her heart to the point where she thought she would die and then slow back down, all the while questioning her sanity. This one had given her a lasting fear that permeated the entire room in a foul stench. Or maybe she needed a shower. Holding her arm above her head, she turned her head and sniffed her armpit. There was no detectable odor, so she laughed at herself and shook her head. I'm going crazy, that's all, she thought exasperatedly. She sighed and tried to relax, closing her eyes.

Beep, beep, beep!

The girl gasped with surprise and stared at the alarm clock. She thought she had turned off the alarm. This time, she reached over and unplugged the damn thing.

But it wouldn't stop beeping.

Realization dawned on her and she shook her head. "What do you want?"

The ringing ceased and a voice replaced it. "I have another job for you," said a voice that crackled through the alarm clock.

"It's been a while," she commented disappointedly. "I thought I was finally off the hook."

"It's nearly time," the voice persisted, "and I need your help to complete the preparations."

The girl stretched and yawned. It was always nearly time for him. "Look, I understand that you must be a busy guy, but I thought you told me I was free to go. If you don't mind, I think I'd like to get on with that. A deal's a deal."

The alarm clock gave a loud ring and the girl shrieked, slapping the alarm clock off the stand and sending the thing across the room. "Damn it, Pitch!"

"I've given you plenty of time to be free! I told you," the voice growled before returning to a softer tone, "I would call on you if I needed you. I need you now."

"Aww," the girl crooned, unaffected by his dark demeanor. "I didn't know you felt that way. Gee, I almost felt bad."

The alarm rang louder but she didn't shriek. Instead, she walked up to the plastic timekeeper and stomped on it with her bare foot. The piece smoldered and smoked underneath as she smiled in triumph. A small laugh escaped her lips.

But the room became darker and she turned toward the window. Staring at her through the dirty glass was an unruly shadow with bright yellow eyes.

"Next time," the shadow murmured, "use that power on the jobs that I give you."

"Next time," the girl retorted, "let a girl get some damn sleep!"

"My enemies are down on their knees and you want to take a nap?!" the shadow boomed, casting dark specks of sand through the cracks in the glass.

Without flinching, the girl replied, "If they are almost finished, then you don't need my help!"

"Cinder! Listen to me when I order you!" The shadow began to push against the glass, seeping through the cracks.

Fuming with anger, the girl named Cinder held up her hands to the glass and focused. Almost instantly, the shadow dissipated when flames licked at the glass with intense heat.

"Sorry, Pitch. Back off my case and do it yourself."

Extinguishing her fire, she felt amazed and out of breath. It was true that he had given her some time to be free. It had been nearly a month since he had called on her and ordered her to do his bidding. And she had no way to repel against his will when he contracted her. Any task he asked of her would be done without hesitation; that's what made her scarily useful. She didn't mind at first because it was a good way to pay him back for his kindness, all those years ago. But he said the contract was voided a month ago, and it felt good to be in control again. She didn't feel the need to listen to him anymore.

She walked over to the mirror to see the damage. Her red hair was frizzy and unkempt, but it was nothing that a hot shower couldn't fix. Staring carefully, she checked to see if her eyes had changed again. This time they stayed green. Her night clothes, which hung loosely off her body, were bare but adequate since she was never cold. A black scar that ran underneath her left clavicle was visible through the thin clothing. Content, she rolled her shoulders and heard them crack. Motel beds are the worst, she decided as she walked toward the bathroom. One last free shower before I check out, I guess.

Steam spilled over and around the shower curtain and filled the room with a lazy haze. Humming to herself, Cinder carefully went over the details of her dream. She was sure she had never seen the boy before in her hundreds of years of life. Yet, he seemed so familiar to her; an aching sort of familiar that confused words and thoughts and focused with all its might on breaking down the person who bore those thoughts. It frustrated her so much that she accidentally burned through the soap that she was holding. Calming down, she put the experience in the back of her mind and continued to hum.

Cinder didn't hear from Pitch again until four years had passed.

"Cinder, can you hear me?"

Sitting on a public bus with her head hung low, Cinder peeked around furtively. She didn't want to look crazy, but then she realized she was the only other person on the bus beside the driver. Good thing, too, because she was amazingly hung over. Despite the raging headache, she took a chance.

Turning to face the window, she murmured, "It's been a long time. Did you die again or something?"

"Is that how you greet an old," there was a sinister pause, "acquaintance?" The last word was thickly layered with venom.

"Miss you, too," Cinder blinked, apparently unfazed. The world outside was rainy and dull, but at least it wasn't snowing. People were walking with umbrellas close to their faces as wind spattered droplets everywhere that they could go. The pane of glass was misted and dotted with crystal clear prickles of water. Some were trailing, racing each other down to the sill. Others were content to stay as they were, in their captive environment against the wind caused by the bus's forward momentum. She felt much the same; a rock being beat against by a stream. She was resilient, but not indefinite. She knew he was going to come for her eventually. "Something happen?"

"More like I have something for you to do," the voice rasped.

"Well, Pitch," Cinder started, "if you had waited as long as this, the first time you asked me to do something after setting me free, I might have been more compliant."

"Silence!" Then Pitch hesitated. "I have lost a lot of my power, and I need to feed off some fear. Can you do that for me?"

Cinder was shocked and confused. Had her refusal to his plea led to this? "Why didn't you ask me this sooner? If you were in danger I could have─"

"As I have said," Pitch repeated, "I lost a lot of power, and it's taken a lot just to communicate with you." His voice was starting to fade out.

Cinder bit her lip in concentration. Her contract was over and she didn't owe this guy anything anymore. He saved her, sure, but she had already repaid him with her service. She was free now. And yet she said thanks by backing off on him when he needed her.

Cinder let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Okay, fair enough. What do you need me to do?"

Her eyes flickered yellow and glowed, absorbing the information she received.

A/N: Hello, everybody! This is my first ROTG FanFic. I promise the chapters won't be awfully short like this one; most will be around 4000-6000 words after the fifth chapter or so (I have a lot of it already written, but I'll take suggestions). So please, read and tell me what you think! I'd love to hear it!

Updates are weekly, on either Fridays or Saturdays!